Talk:Harvester (strategy)
Some Extra Info Good tips! Thank you! I just finished it on hard myself. My main character was a level 29 Dual Weapon Warrior (Berserker/Templar/Spirit Warrior) with Awakening gear, every other character using their default gear. I found it impossible after a few attempts using Jerrik as his default setup, he just doesn't put out enough damage and there was so much AoE damage to deal with using all melee. I specialized him as Archer/Bard as was described here and was able to finish the fight after a few more attempts and tactic changes. A few things I found: - During Phase 1 the Harvester is not resistant to spirit damage, but during phase 2 becomes greatly resistant to it, so Spirit Warriors should disable Beyond the Veil if they want to do any kind of damage. - When he starts to near death in Phase 1 he uses Harvester Fury. I haven't done the fight enough to confirm this, but it seems to be a self buff that makes him hit a lot harder and a lot faster. I recommend that whatever character has threat just kites him around the room until he dies at this point, it's very difficult to heal through. - Twin-Strikes + Unending Flurry is a great way to take a huge chunk of health off if you are using a Dual Weapon character. The cooldown is very long but you should be able to use it at least once per phase. On phase 2 this combo did over 50% damage to his health using my warrior. - Near the end of phase 1 you might want to burn the switch as soon as the red phase begins. I found that between Harvester Fury and whatever buffs he gains from the red phase he can easily kill Brogan in one or two hits if you are using him to tank. * - In my opinion way less skeletons will spawn when you set the difficulty from Nightmare to Hardcore. On Nightmare I always got a boss skeleton (orange) or sometimes even two at the same time, on Hardcore the worst I got was two elite (yellow) ones. In Phase 2 I was fighting one elite and some normal skeletons on Hardcore in one corner of the map, waiting for the Harvester to return to jump him with all party members as soon as he reappeared in my corner. *- The rank of the skeletons is random. I got an orange one even on Normal difficulty. Maybe they spawn more often at harder levels, I haven't checked that one yet. (talk) 19:11, August 30, 2010 (UTC) *-Completed nightmare now with my DW spirit warrior - tore even through orange skeletons in a matter of seconds (just make sure stamina doesn't run out). Though Brogan died at the beginning of phase 2 even with good tanking gear, not even potions saved him. Rogue - nightmare I've found a pretty easy way to beat harvester on phase 2 on nightmare difficulty even with all of your party dead. I play as a rogue, with awakening skills so i just use stealth to get away from the skeletons,then i heal and apply all poisons etc. then i use strength of stone and go beat the sh*t out of the harvester. Skeletons do only physical damage and i become immune to it for a few seconds , then i use ghost(not stealth) to heal myself and run away as far as i can from skeletons,because these f*ckers keep chasing you no matter what, then wait until strength of stone is usable again and repeat it as many times as needed. hope it helps Rogue 2nd opinion. (another guy)//// I completed Hardcore with a just-created rogue 20 level and the few items the game gives. Elf, assassin and ranger archer, stealth 4 rank (although not very useful in a way mentioned*) -High ranged damage that always connects -Master Ranger to summon another member for the fight (i prefered spider, its quick and not a threat) -Be sure to activate accuracy for almost triple the normal damage. Phase 1 was somewhat easy, as long as my archer didnt raise threat, and golem was near the melee to heal bronto, spider and the dwarves. Whenever someone was selected as threat, i just moved him in circles. Phase 2 was the tough part. It all depends to what skeletons will join the fight as it starts. After some attempts i had no orange ones, so i equipped jerik with an extra bow. After some damage done, more skeletons joined the fight, including oranges. i used bronto to taunt them, and they just chased it around, while the others kept the damage. Got a little lucky too, and did it. On another instance taunting the harvester made him attack the bronto so all the party members could attack it instead of chasing it. *in the 2nd phase, if all the characters die and you stealth the rogue, attack and then go back in shadows the harvester just heals. And fast. So you cant win it :( This works, i have succeeded 2 times and 1 time with a newly created mage with arcane warrior-spirit healer and with healing aura activated just like golem's (double the healing) Strange, yet helpfull bug I finally managed to get passed this horrendous boss on nightmare, though it wasn't all skill. I managed to hit the switch right when the golem body of The Harvester died. This led to the lizard version being permanently stunned. I don't know if it works every time and I'm not going to test this out any time soon, just a FYI. BTW: the tactics for Phase I are great. Eventually, after the Harvester phases in and out of 'normal' and 'red' a sufficient amount of times, the skeletons will die instantly. You sure fooled me. About if 2nd phase skeletons die when color shifts I think it has something to do being near the area where the grates are (where the switch was). At games that the fight has carried me away from them, color shift doesnt affect them. But i have seen them go down when the color got white and i was near there. Traps Has anyone tried using traps? I am almost finished with Origins on my trap rogue playthrough, but I am waiting until I am close to the end of Awakenings to try the harvester on hard (so I can respec the warrior dwarf and give him the Demonslayer). Mictlantecuhtli (talk) 22:07, April 14, 2011 (UTC) :Traps work great by the way, especially gravity traps and large grease traps. Getting the corpses into a few large grease trap spills can keep them out of the fight for quite awhile. Also Demonslayer on Brogan with Grandmaster Cold Iron/Paragon Fire/Paragon Fire will allow him to quickly kill the summoned corpses while a rogue tanks. Mictlantecuhtli (talk) 18:19, May 15, 2011 (UTC) Using Bronto OK. This is simple. Just take control over bronto and then go near harvester and use Taunt and keep circling him. He won't hurt anyone if he does with Area effect your Golem can handle that. Your party will kill the phase 1 harvester. With bronto its a piece of cake for me to kill phase 1 but in phase 2 there are just so many skeletons that bronto wasn't able to escape also many times Jerric died. Any suggestion to keep Jerric alive. Would stealth technic help ?? I am using my two handed warrior from Origins.--In war, Victory. In peace, Vigilance. In death, Sacrifice. (talk) 16:49, July 11, 2011 (UTC) Harvester Strategy: Warrior NOTE: YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR Memoirs of the First Wardens FOR THIS TO WORK. NOTE: For reason you will understand after reading the strategy, it is highly likely that this can work for any rouge or warrior given the fact that you adjust it to your class/spec If your like me and trying to get the Grim Reaper Achievement with a warrior (tank spec) then here's a useful and sound strategy. First of all disable all tactics on the runic golem except for 1 that will be "Ally-Health-Less_than_75%-Group_Heal, then keep cleansing aura and flaming weapons active. Use your Memoirs of the First Wardens on Brogan and reset him to archer spec ((there's no use for two tanks) and an archer is MANDATORY for this strategy). To finish the first phase simply put your group (Jarrik, Brogan, Rune Golem) next to the red->normal switch and hold aggro while The Harvester is facing AWAY from your group. The first phase should be over quickly with little problem. From this point on always have your tank and your golem highlighted for this part to avoid him running off and getting killed. When the second phase hits give your archer elf flight arrows or flame arrows if you have them on you, if not that's ok. Tell your archer to attack The Harvester while you hold aggro on all the skeletons. The archer is ranged and will almost always have a shot on that damn jumpy flesh glob. Once you have the bulk of the skeletons killed chances are The Harvester is hurting badly. After he's brought bellow 15% health (the wiki says 20% but it seemed more like 15%) the skeletons will vanish and you have time to tank and spank the rest of the short health span. WARNING NOTE: THIS STRATEGY ASSUMES YOU ARE IMPORTING AN AWAKENING CHARACTER, I'M NOT SURE IF IT WILL WORK FOR AN ORIGINS IMPORT. WARNING NOTE: THIS STRATEGY ASSUMES YOU ARE IMPORTING AN AWAKENING CHARACTER, I'M NOT SURE IF IT WILL WORK FOR AN ORIGINS IMPORT. WARNING NOTE: THIS STRATEGY ASSUMES YOU ARE IMPORTING AN AWAKENING CHARACTER, I'M NOT SURE IF IT WILL WORK FOR AN ORIGINS IMPORT. Just crushed the Harvester Played on Hard (Xbox 360) and used a fairly simple build, needing only a few tips from the wiki. Aside from some rune crafting before embarking on the Awakening endgame, there was very little in the way of special preparations. Here's the breakdown. My Warden ~ A dual-wielding Rogue, built to be a stand-up fighter from the get-go. Specializations are Assassin, Duelist, Legionnaire Scout. Imported from Awakening at Level 35, with all available Manuals applied to him for maximum stats. (This is my final, 100% Completion playthrough before starting up DA2.) :Gear *Vigilance & Dumat's Spine Amgarrak version, both with Grandmaster or higher Cold Iron, Flame, and Paralyze runes. (Paralyze does work on Harvester!) *Blackblade Helm and Tunic, with Slippery Ferret Gloves and Wolf Treads. Tunic equipped with Paragon Immunity, Tempest, and Stout runes. (Crafted these by selling all available resources, including gear from party members I wasn't bringing into the endgame.) *Andruil's Blessing, Illumination, Morrigan's Ring (I'm a sentimentalist), and Key to the City. :Stats (including bonuses) *Strength 63 *Dexterity 85 *Willpower 42 *Magic 27 *Cunning 81 *Constitution 60 Jerrik ~ Used a Manual of Focus to make him a dedicated Archer, with maxed Shadow and Ranger Specializations (just in case Snug gets a bonus too). :Gear *The Sorrows of Arlathan (Varterral was a joke; beat him with my default adventuring settings) & 127 Elf-Flight Arrows (jealously horded since the start of Origins). *Nimble armor set, equipped with Paragon Immunity, Tempest, and Stout runes. *Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering, The High Regard of House Dace, Rings of Severity and Subtlety. Jerrik's tactics set to Passive and optimized to be as stealthy as possible, focusing solely on Harvester, with provisions like Decoy, Shadow Form, and Feign Death in case he gets overwhelmed. Set to spam poultices if health drops below 50%. Brogan ~ Also used a Manual of Focus so he can be a pure Meat Tank. Spirit Warrior with maxed Weapon/Shield skill set and a few Two-Handed passive buffs. (Shattering Blows and Destroyer, in case they aren't dependent on using two-handed weapons.) :Gear *Dumat's Spine Steel, Awakening version and Landsmeet Shield, the former equipped with Grandmaster Fire and two Master Hale runes. *Sentinel armor set, equipped with Paragon Immunity, Tempest, and Stout runes. *Gladiator's Belt, The High Regard of House Dace (dupe), Rings of Dawn and Dusk. Brogan's tactics set to Aggressive and optimized for aggro. Active buffs include Indomitable, Precise Striking, Shield Defense, Beyond the Veil, and Carapace in case things got hairy. Also set to focus solely on Harvester, using Grievous Insult to keep on the pressure. Also set to spam poultices if health drops below 50%. Rune Golem ~ Tactics set to Defensive, to keep him out of trouble. Only uses Quake and Hurl when completely surrounded; otherwise he mostly just stands in for a squishy mage. Flaming Weapons and Cleansing Aura always on (natch), with Group Heal set to pop if anyone drops below 50% health. Snug ~ Possibly the secret to my success here. Upon walking into Amgarrak itself, I noticed Snug earned some extra tactics slots. Quickly hitting Back, this was the only time I had the chance to access them. Set him to Cautious and he constantly uses Taunt as it refreshes. Basically, Snug becomes my secondary aggro, drawing away skeletons and the Harvester while Brogan waits for Grievous Insult to refresh. Altogether, this was a cake-walk. Aside from cycling around the party to manually use some poultices, I had no trouble whatsoever. Got lucky on skeleton spawns; nothing above Elite showed. Those Paralyze runes on my Warden's swords did the trick too; the Harvester couldn't move for about half the fight. Took less than three minutes. SonGoharotto (talk) 03:49, October 8, 2011 (UTC) Another useful strategy... I just posted... well I actually signed up to post it, but anyhow posted somewhat exploiting but legit way to kill the Harvester without getting yourself frustrated and starting to use console commands for acheivement/reward. Well... it actually is kind of boring, but hey, it's better than never-beating it and restarting the whole campaign just to kill that Harvester in hard/nightmare mod. Patre0203 (talk) 16:09, May 30, 2012 (UTC) Mage strategy, non-import This strategy is great for getting the Reaper's Cudgel before you've even started Dragon Age: Origins, and of three variations I've done, I've finished the fight on Hard seven times with 0-1 KOs for the entire party. The guide uses nothing but the items that are available in a non-import, Level 20 playthrough of Golems of Amgarrak, though it may require rushing through the primary objectives on Casual or Normal in order to avoid burning consumables. However, it will get you through the Harvester fight on Hard provided you switch the difficulty in the Forge, and thus earning the Grim Reaper achievement. I technically completed this in March of 2011, but with some ideas I saw here, such as changing Behavior, I was inspired to revisit this task, and in adding what some of you have done to my own strategy, I believe I've created the ideal way to get this achievement, without the hassle of 70+ hours of import, while getting you an extra 330 sovereigns for Origins. You will have to use a Mage, first and foremost. The build I had, including that which turned out to be useless, was: At least 70 Magic, no more than 25 Willpower. Use equipment to raise it higher. Default equipment will do, as well as Key to the City. Upgrade your Cunning to unlock Master Survival, may require losing some Magic. For Skills, Survival to 4 (only had one in my runs), Combat Training to 1 (had 4 in mine, wasted effort), Tactics at 1, Vitality and Clarity to 1. Fade Shield (useless, thought it had something to do with Arcane Warrior) Spirit Healer: Through Lifeward Arcane Warrior: Maxed Primal: Rock Armor. Creation: Heal and Rejuvenate, Heroic Aura through Haste. Spirit: Mind Blast through Crushing Prison. Entropy: Weakness through Miasma (entirely useless, ignore). Sustain Combat Magic, Rock Armor, and Haste. Apply Shimmering Shield if you gain too much threat, but watch your mana if you do, I only needed to activate it in one run. Telekinetic Weapons may be useful as well, I didn't notice a difference. Tactics aren't too important here, I spent most of the match running around as the Warden, casting support spells and Crushing Prison and Force Field (not together!) Simply put, these are the spells you must have, and from there, you can vary it up. I had basically wasted four points, so you are free to get the Cold spells or even Mass Rejuvenate. Walking Bomb was not very useful in one of my variations, nor were Spell Wisp or Vulnerability Hex, Harvester's mental resistance was too high. Jerrik Use Memoirs of the First Wardens to respec him to an Archer build, and give him the Chasind Arm. He needs at least 7 points in Strength, combined with his accessories, to get 20 Strength and equip his armor back on. Dump 2 points into Cunning so you can max his Survival (30% Nature resistance). With Legionnaire Scout (requires Awakening playthrough), you can forgo points in Strength and get everything you need just from the one ability you can unlock, letting you raise Dexterity to 80+. Use the two Tomes of the Mortal Vessel to add another 4 points. Willpower and Constitution are wasted efforts. But whether it's 70 or 80, it'll work. For Skills, max your Survival and Combat Training, get the one Vitality and Clarity you can obtain. Specialization actually doesn't matter, I played him without adding the specialization (my mistake), Assassin, and Legionnaire Scout with success in three variations. So if you don't have any unlocked, stick to his Duelist but don't put anything in it. If you have Assassin, get Mark of Death, or if you have LS, get the passive. I found the latter more useful. As far as Ranger goes, you don't need a single point here. Master Ranger may improve Snug's fighting ability, but I'm not too sure about that. Rogue: Up through Combat Movement in the first tree, through Evade in the second. Archery: Learn all skills. Make sure to adjust Jerrik's tactics to get rid of the Duelist stuff, then add Self: Health <50%: Use health poultice - least powerful and put it high. Set Behavior to Ranged. Runic Golem Learn everything. Dump any attribute points you obtain into Constitution (get it to about 40, I had 37), get Willpower to 50-55 and Magic to 50 (not sure if it's this by default or I did something, I worked off of save files from 18 months ago. Magic may not even matter). Set Behavior to Defensive, add Ally: Health <50%: Group Heal as a tactic and put it high, as well as Self: Any: Flaming Weapons. It should already have one for Cleansing Aura. Do not add Tactics for Chain Lightning or Tempest, they were of no use. I forget the friendly fire rules for Hard, so you might be able to get away with Tempest, but Chain Lightning eats too much mana. Brogan You can't modify him too much, but get Constraint in the Berserker tree at Level 21, this will reduce his stamina regen penalty. Add the 3 points to Constitution. Fortunately, Tactics aren't an issue. Just change his Self: Health <50% from Devour to least powerful health poultice and reorder it to just above Carapace. Give him the Heirsplitter, it'll do slightly more for him than the Reaper's Cudgel, though I've finished the fight with both. Preparation Outside the Forge, save and activate sustainables. Jerrik uses Summon Bronto, Rapid Shot, Accuracy, and maybe Suppressive Fire. I'm not sure if it does anything here, but I managed without it, once. If you have Mark of Death, consider turning it off so you'll have enough stamina to use it, and set a Tactic for it. Golem uses its two, Warden uses his three, and Brogan sets Shield Wall, Threaten, and Berserk. Heal, Group Heal, and Heroic Defense should be on your Warden's hot keys. Equip Elf-Flight Arrows (if you have them) to Jerrik. Cast Lifeward on one ally, save and reload, rinse and repeat until all four have it. Make sure the difficulty is Hard, save one last time, and begin. Phase One Jerrik should be getting around 120 damage per hit, with Rapid Shot and Haste, that's once every 2 seconds (approx., but definitely more DPS than Aim + Haste). Health will drop and shoot back up like a yo-yo, as the Warden and the Runic Golem spam Group Heal. Use Heal on the weakest character every 5 seconds and pop Lyrium Potions when it gets too low, not a second later. Consider Heroic Defense for the Golem/Brogan as well, but it neuters Jerrik too much, he'll have to do without. Ideally, Brogan takes the threat and pops health poultices every few seconds, but sometimes they switch to either of the other party members. Your Arcane Warrior has virtually no defenses, so kite if you get their attention, but keep Jerrik alive, even if you need to switch to him to make sure he takes his meds, and use Crushing Prison and Force Field if necessary. Brogan unfortunately doesn't have Taunt in this minimal play, so he can only draw threat with Threaten and repeatedly attacking. Use the switch when the area turns red to wipe out (most of) Harvester's support, but you should hold off until you're overwhelmed, which will ensure you wipe out a great deal (though often not all of them). You should be able to have Greater or Potent-level resources remaining by the time he's down to 10% of health. If for some reason the A.I. doesn't use the poultice even when a dwarf is near death, switch to that character and pop it yourself. Finish the Fight At 5-10% health, try to hold off defeating it until the red shift is active and the switch not used, that way you can use it immediately at the start of Phase Two and wipe out what's left of his support. If not, you won't have the Switch in Phase Two at all, and it'll be much more difficult. Heal up, revive anyone who went down (Lifeward should have protected you all for the first few crucial moments), and order an all-out assault on the Harvester. The Arcane Warrior can now draw Warden's Companion and join the front lines. He may be able to use Aura of Undeath to bring some corpses back, but I've never fought Elite or Boss ranks when they were brought into the fight this way, just Normals that a Crushing Prison can deal with. He'll go down after a couple more minutes, and with plenty of healing items left. Conclusion To reiterate, this was done on Hard mode with Level 21 characters (start at 20, leveled up during the campaign), default Orlesian Mage Warden, with nothing but the items available in Golems of Amgarrak, either at the start or picked up along the way. I also fought with a few fingers tied behind my back, not having the benefit of spells like Mass Rejuvenation, Regenerate, or Frost Weapons and Cone of Cold (which enables Shatter in conjunction with Crushing Prison). Lifeward and any specialization that raises Dexterity +2 for Jerrik are most recommended, as well as Constraint on Brogan once you reach Level 21. I have yet to clear Phase One of Nightmare with any variation, but I can guarantee victory on Hard, with a little aggro-related luck, paying attention to cooldowns and health/mana, and Jerrik not getting flattened. I would like to thank the people on this page who contributed before me, and whose ideas made my strategy much more efficient and ready for use by others. If anyone still needs Grim Reaper, take this and good luck. RShepard227 (talk) It is possible for rogue and mage to get 100% dodge so that neither skeletons nor harvester itself can hit you. You only takes damage from some harvester's skill, such as vile disembowelment. The skills are unlikely to kill you if you have around 300 hp and enough health poultices. While you can't die, it's only a matter of time that they die. Here is a list of all that you need. Vigilance(longsword,helps defense) +10% Voice of Velvet +25% First Enchanter's Cowl +10% 3 Evasion runes in your armor +3×5%=+15% King Cailan's boots +20% Evation(rogue), Arcane shield+Fade Shield(Mage) +20% ---EASY Harvester Nightmare Kill--- After having quite a bit of problem with Harvester, I realized how a rogue with archery actually works in Awakening. If you give a rogue archer Accuracy, you really do not need to spend any points on any stats other than Dexterity. After setting my archer up with Legionnaire Scout for the survival bonuses (especially Endure Hardship which allows you to chug stamina potions to stay alive), Duelist for the defense and hit bonuses and Assassin for Mark of Death (a 20% damage buff), I pumped all the points I had gotten through out both Origins and Awakening into Dexterity. I also geared for Dexterity over Stamina with no concern for other stats. I did use a couple gear glitches that anyone can use. I also used erf editor to edit my bow rune slots (which is impossible if you do not play on PC), but that should not make a huge difference. However, my bow had 3 Intensifying Runes. Since I was running Defensive Fire for the boost to defense, I was locked into my bow choice (The Sorrows of Arlathan) and gloves (Fingers of the Nimble) to make up for the reduced aim speed. My other gear was Corruption (from Origins), Battledress of the Provocateur (Awakening version with three Paragon Stout Runes), Fleet Feet (these have a huge strength requirement which you can bypass by equipping a shield with Legion of the Dead Heraldry, Dawn Ring and some other strength items), Andruil's Blessing, The High Regard of House Dace (I used the reward version; however, you can use the Jerrik version), Key to the City and Corrin's Proposal. With this gear set up, I was running around 192 Dexterity, 27 armor, 288 defense (with gear and skill bonuses), 384 attack, 176.0 damage. In the fight, both the golem and Jerrik fall really quickly. However, Brogan stayed alive for a bit, and I mostly used Brogan as a buff bot. I stacked the heck out of his constitution (173 with almost all constitution buffing gear and the raw stat). Then I made Brogan a Guardian, Champion, Spirit Warrior. I had Brogan use all of his shields from Guardian on my character, and I went Champion for Rally (+10 defense). The fight ended with Brogan and I alive, in about 1 minute with me as the victor. Other than the runes in the bow, this is all very doable on all platforms; however, without the runes the fight should take longer. ------------------------------------------- "I did use a couple gear glitches that anyone can use. I also used erf editor to edit my bow rune slots (which is impossible if you do not play on PC), but that should not make a huge difference. However, my bow had 3 Intensifying Runes." above part is mere cheating not strategy. - JH EP - Talk - 14:50, June 6, 2014 (UTC) Agreed. There are even no rune slots on the bows, unless some 3rd party mods are used. Using the same approach as above I can simply edit the save file to give the character over 9000 HP and the same base damage, and then end the fight with 1 hit. -- (talk) 13:35, January 18, 2016 (UTC)Paul. Aggro baiting using a LoD heraldry from Awaking on my Warrior to give her unusually high stats, while using air of insolence and threaten to gather the aggro of pretty much every enemy in the room (the odd skeleton may attack Jerrick while he was using a bow) while using potions to heal your tanking or bait character reached 50% health and other companions attacked them from behind. setting the runic golems tactics to cautious seemed to cause pretty much everything to ignore it while it was only set to group heal at 75% health. I have only used this once on hard mode and using my Warden as the aggro bait and wonder how well this would work with two archers or if I'd actually bothered to pre-plan this battle. BlackDragon666 (talk) 19:28, June 5, 2014 (UTC) Enemies are inclined to attack anyone who does highest damage (better armor draw more attention too), so since archers are good at inflicting a lot of damage, it is normal that your archers draw attention of those skeletons. this fight is absolutely very unbalanced and hard. i always play on nightmare difficulty with no problem and never let any of my companions fall in any battle, but i had a lot of problems with this one fight as most of the time two of my companions had fallen by the end of this battle (at nightmare difficulty). elite-boss ranked skeleton can easily kill anyone literally with three to five hit and there is no end to them! since skeletons spawn rapitidly, you have more problem if you longer the fight. best way to win this fight is having an archer PC and using that reset book on jerrick and making him another archer and you better have those invulnerability abilities to be able to escape from danger at dire times. - JH EP - Talk - 05:25, June 6, 2014 (UTC) The Harvester appears to be able to summon more skeletons when it runs off in phase 2 to any of the sarcophagus's on the edges of the room (the only time it ran off in my fight on hard mode in phase 2 was when all it's current friends died, so i was able to follow it), so if the Harvester runs away randomly expect it to return with reinforcements and i'm not planning to fight the Harvester on the higher difficulties again. BlackDragon666 (talk) 10:59, June 6, 2014 (UTC) The Harvester never runs away in nightmare difficulty and can instantly kill weaker party members with one hit if it uses it's other hand as a cudgel! in nightmare difficulty it summons elite-boss and boss ranked skeletons half of the times (IIRC, The Harvester summoned TEN of these pesky skeletons last time i fought this fight) and more number of skeletons. in first phase of the battle you can simply kill all of the skeletons by placing one of your sturdier party members near that platform in south part of the room and touching it whenever it appears, real problem starts in phase 2, because there is no platform to touch and you have to kill all of the skeletons manually! in this phase since there is a number limit posed on skeletons, you better kill high-raked skeletons and keep weakest skeletons alive and just ran away from them and hit the harvester, this way you don't have to worry about getting killed suddenly by high-ranked ones and having immunity abilities help you survive if they spawn right in your back and use one of their nasty abilities! in phase 3 you can hit The Harvester easier, so use all of your grenades and everything in your disposal, on him. (don't worry about loosing all of your items, if you plan to import your save to witch hunt. since the game does not save after killing harvester, you have to import the save you made before confronting The Harvester and so technically you lose nothing!) IIRC skeletons are vulnerable to fire damage, so you can hit them better with fire grenades. and don't forget to set your golem's tactics to defensive mode, disable healing aura which drain a lot of mana and set "ally:any = group heal" and "enemy:rank>elite = lightning", this way you may have a healthy party, and by reducing stamina of ranked enemies, you may prevent them from using their abilities all of the times. but i doubt everyone like higher difficulties :P - JH EP - Talk - 14:11, June 6, 2014 (UTC) Strategy for lvl 30+ melee Rogue / Warrior (hard / nightmare, PC v.1.05) There are some problems with this fight that can make it seriously hard and unpredictable. 1. It's confusing - the switch that appears and disappears, sudden unavoidable attacks that wipe out the whole party at once and the like. 2. It's bugged. For example in my game the Runic golem could not revive anyone despite having the Revival upgrade. Sometimes during the red phase the skeletons become immortal and unhittable even by lvl 35 Character with insane attack rating. If this happens there's nothing you can do but reload. The switch that should kill the skeletons might not even appear. Ever! 3. You already know that, but your companions are in fact very lame, no matter how you respecialize or equip them. They will go down immediately except (hopefully) Brogan, unless you babysit them all the time, and the Runic Golem is always the first to hit the ground. I'm not entirely convinced that it's even easier to win it with the companions compared to solo. The strategy that worked for maxed out (lvl 35) DW Rogue is the following. Give Jerric a bow and max out his Dex, respecialize him as an archer. "Accuracy" talent is mandatory. At least he can do some good before going down. Make sure you have another bow for yourself as well (even if you have no archery talents). Disable the tactics on the Runic Golem (though he will likely die anyway). During the first phase the Harvester himself is relatively harmless, and you can strip off his health very quickly. Don't forget to use Brogan to taunt and constantly harass him. Use greater nature salve to protect the melee characters. During this phase, more and more skeletons will spawn on the battlefield. Make your group run like hell from them, but keep beating the boss. Keep track where the switch appears, but don't use it just yet. Keep your non-melee allies away from each other so they hopefully won't get killed all at once. Once the Flesh Golem is about to die, he performes some deadly ranged attack that can wipe out all your group instantly if they are clustered. Keep them apart and hope for the best. Once the Harvester detaches himself and starts jumping aroung, hit the kill switch to wipe out the skeletons (which means you have to wait for the red phase of the fight to destroy the Flesh golem). It's most likely the Harvester won't have a chance to summon the undead anymore. Hammer him with bows and grenades, pin him down and debuff, use all you've got against him. Acid bombs are the best against him, but he seems to be immune to spirit damage. He is very fast, so ranged weapons are much better than melee. If you killed the skeletons at the right moment, he will just die without doing any real damage and summoning anyone. Remember, he rarely does much damage by himself for the most part - but the skeletons can become unbeatable if not destroyed immediately. --Paul 987 (talk) 21:28, January 19, 2016 (UTC)Paul : You seem to be pretty knowledgable about this fight--would you like to help out with cleaning up the article? Right now it's a mess, with lots of forum statements and confusion. We could use some help with it if you're interested! -- 21:33, January 19, 2016 (UTC) I can try. Any suggestions on how to do it properly? --Paul 987 (talk) 10:27, January 20, 2016 (UTC)